First Night After
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1651b: The Berry workshop is over, and Chloe might have a bright future ahead, but for one last night, she has all her friends around her. - Red series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 78th cycle. Now cycle 79!_

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**"First Night After"  
(Older) Rachel, Chloe (OC) & friends  
Red series  
_(no listings yet; sequel to Escape to New York)_  
**

After all this time, seeing the end coming closer and closer, it had finally passed. Rachel Berry's summer workshop had come to an end. This, of course, was followed by a party.

Chloe had called Kurt Hummel and told him she would take the audition. It was still a week away and it was eating up all her nerves, but you wouldn't have known by looking at her, at least when she was in workshop or near her workshop friends. No one knew yet, outside of George, and Rachel and Sophie and Chloe's parents. She didn't want to tell them yet, wanted to wait until after the audition. She figured if it didn't pan out she'd keep it to herself, but if it did work…

At least she had been able to celebrate in some way with those who did know. George had met Mr. and Mrs. Clarke while they were still in New York, though they'd since returned to Indiana. The encounter had gone well enough, and as nervous as Chloe had been, it had all gone away once she'd seen how nervous George was. It was so outside of what she knew of him that it sort of amused her. At the same time she felt bad, but what mattered in the end was that they had all met, and things had gone well.

The way things had been going between her and George since she'd decided to take the audition couldn't have been better. He was so happy for her, so hopeful at the thought that she might stay in New York, that one day, Chloe had surprised them both in declaring that she loved him. She hadn't been meaning to say it, and for the few seconds of silence that followed, she became terribly afraid that she might have said something she shouldn't. But then he had kissed her, and he had told her that he loved her, too.

Out of all of them who knew, the one who had fearlessly taken it for granted that Chloe would stay among them was Sophie. Rachel's daughter was so pleased at the thought of keeping this sort-of little sister, and she would not accept to hear any talk on the chance that Chloe might not even get the part.

Between all of them, and the flow of pride out of her mentor, Chloe could have told her friends as well, let the excitement get bigger and bigger, but she couldn't do it. The fact was she didn't know yet if she'd get the part, and on the off chance that she wouldn't get it, she wanted to reduce the amount of cajoling and cheering up that would follow.

She was much more content in enjoying this time they had left together the way she would have done if it wasn't for the upcoming audition.

The party was once again being held at George's apartment, but this time Chloe vowed she would not let herself get as drunk as she'd done over the previous party, the one where she'd ended up taking her tipsy self to her birth father's door. This was the kind of night she wanted to remember.

She wanted to remember Marcus and, to her surprise, Thomas. Once they'd welcomed him into their group, Thomas had become much less of an unpleasant person. They would not simply forgive him his attitude, and they would call him on it. The difference here was that he would listen. Somehow his relationship with Marcus, as secret as it remained, had helped him eliminate a lot of the rage he had once had. That relationship remained the unspoken truth among the six of them. They knew about it, and he knew that they knew, but no one said it aloud. They'd thought maybe he might open up tonight, as the party marked the end of the workshop, but by Marcus they'd figured that wouldn't be the case. He wasn't ready, and it was already hard for him to envision their being separated once he went home that he didn't want people's reactions – no matter how unlikely it was that anyone would be rude to him about it.

She wanted to remember Eva and Tara, the little one and the tall one… The girls who'd already been friends before the workshop had taken Chloe into their circle, and for that she had been so very thankful. Eva was usually so intense, her temper on the shorter side just as she was, but around Chloe she was something else, someone else. She made her laugh, and she was always there to defend her or reassure her. Tara was a lot like that, too, though in a much less confrontational way. Chloe wouldn't be surprised if those two one day found a way to be roommates. They were as close as any two friends could be without taking the next step into romance, and as that was not in the cards, then they would be lifelong best of friends and that was just as they wanted it.

They'd wanted this summer to remain memorable, no matter what came next, if they all kept in touch or became parted, and they'd achieved it. Chloe knew, wherever her life took her, whether it was to stay here in New York and take on Broadway with everything she had, or to return to Indiana and try again later… She would always have this, from awkward beginnings down to this night, all of them singing and dancing, laughing… It would be the kind of stories she shared with friends and family for years and years, and if she could hold on to even one of them, these friends of hers, then she would be happy.

George smiled as they danced, and Chloe knew it for being the smile he got when he'd see her smiling. It asked what she was so happy about, and as usual she just shrugged. So he nodded along, and they kept on dancing.

THE END

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**____********A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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